


You Would Have To Lose Your Mind

by Sasou_Amalie



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Banter, Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Smut, Light Dom/sub, May/December Relationship, Nomad V (Cyberpunk 2077), Porn With Plot, Smut, Swearing, That Video Message Broke My Heart, The Sun Ending (Cyberpunk 2077), Why Can't We Romance Takemura?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:40:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28754514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasou_Amalie/pseuds/Sasou_Amalie
Summary: Becoming the fixer-queen of Night City came at a price, but V was not a person to dwell on past mistakes, dead bodies and people whose fingers she'd stepped on, until one of the skeletons in her closet decides to pay her a surprise visit.
Relationships: Goro Takemura & Female V, Goro Takemura/Female V, Goro Takemura/V
Comments: 10
Kudos: 126





	You Would Have To Lose Your Mind

**Author's Note:**

> This fic contains some spoilers for the main storyline of Cyberpunk 2077, especially the "The Sun" Ending, so I'd advise you to read this AFTER you finished the game.
> 
> I am still salty about not being able to romance Takemura and dedicate this fic to all the preem works on Goro and Female V that mended my broken heart a little bit. 
> 
> PRO TIP: If you wanna get sucker punched right in the feels, go listen to "Been Good to Know Ya" und "Never Fade Away (SAMURAI Cover)" from the Cyberpunk 2077 OST on repeat!
> 
> Just cranked this one out without a proper beta read, so there might be minor changes coming.  
> Sorry for any punctuation or grammar mistakes, english is not my first language.  
> Hope you enjoy this anyways, feedback is always welcome!

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” V said as she passed the bar “Don’t let the kids run wild!” Claire gave her a short nod and moved on to a new customer.  
“What’s with the get-up?” Emmerick commented and looked her up and down as she stepped out of the front door. “Lookin’ good, Boss.” He grunted and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
“Corpo-Business, gotta dress the part,” V laughed and gave him a wink, suddenly very aware of the white synth silk clinging to her form. Her heels clicked against the asphalt as she strutted towards the old Porsche 911 that once belonged to Johnny Silverhand. She could’ve gone via AV, but right now she felt more like blowing off some steam by racing through the city. V carefully adjusted the mirror, half-heartedly hoping to see Johnny giving her one of his condescending looks from the backseat.  
Oh, how she missed that asshole. She clicked her tongue before she started the motor and rolled off the parking lot.

Goro Takemura sat in the dim twilight of the dying day, his elbows resting on his knees, hands folded together as he stared at the skyline of the city. All dressed in black, he almost became one with his environment, hadn’t it been for the warm light reflexes on the silver cyberware adorning his face and neck. He rubbed his hands and let out a deep sigh, before his gaze wandered to his katana, neatly sheated, placed on the dark surface of the table in front of him.  
The city and everything in it disgusted the Arasaka soldier and he couldn’t wait to finally escape the iron grip of this hellhole filled with degenerate people, disgusting food and more filth than anyone could ever bear. But being a man of principle kept him here for just another night, one last mission he had to finish, so he rolled his neck and stiffened his back, prepared to wait for another hour.

V placed the empty glass of champagne next to her seat and stared outside the AV window. Closing the deal should be celebrated, but right now all she felt like was a hot shower, a drink and her bed. Lately the symptoms of her disintegrating neural structures had become harder to manage, migraines accompanied by nosebleeds and loss of vision, exhaustion and a foggy brain were a common occurrence. She sighed heavily, followed by an extensive coughing fit.  
“Jesus Christ,” she mumbled, staring at the blood in her palm. “Really, now?” She wiped her hand on a cocktail napkin and threw it on the seat next to her, training her gaze on the structure of her penthouse atop the mega building. This place was all she ever dreamt of when she first started out in Night City, but by now, it felt like an empty husk housing all the ghosts of people she’d lost along the way, a perfect image to mirror her current state of mind. If she was being honest to herself, this apartment had only ever felt remotely like home in the two weeks Judy had lived there with her.  
She sat through the landing of the AV and exited it the second the door glided open, ready to get out of this corpo-costume that made her skin crawl. V carefully took the stairs towards the glass door leading into her living room, when the hair on the back of her neck rose. As soon as she stepped into her penthouse, she noticed a subtle shift in the rooms atmosphere. A hint of cedar wood and musk combined with pressed cotton wafted into her nose and she knew she wasn’t alone.

“Goro,” she acknowledged his presence and stopped right at the end of the red carpet. “Thought you’d be dead by now.”  
“I could say the same for you,” the former bodyguard retorted in his gravelly voice. “But yet here we are, both alive.”  
“If I remember it correctly, you told me to rot in hell before you called me a bitch,” V retorted, a smile ghosting across her lips. “Sorry I didn’t do you that favor… Yet.”  
The realization that she wasn’t packing settled into her stomach like a brick. Could he really have come here to kill her? V considered turning the lights on, but decided to activate her Kiroshi implant’s Low Lite instead, knowing the layout of her home when he did not might not give her much of an advantage but when push came to shove it could save her life.  
“I am not here to apologize,” Takemura answered curtly. “I have meant every word I said.”  
He pushed himself off the daybed, his silhouette black against the setting sun disappearing behind Night Cities skyscrapers. The former soldier stood tall, his hands clasped in front of his body. His voice was calm, but she reminded herself not to trust it. “We had an agreement.”  
“I held up my end and helped you get to Hanako in your crusade against Yorinobu,” V reminded him. “Hell, I even met her at Embers to hear her out. Just didn’t sway me is all.”  
“She offered to help you in return,” Takemura retorted firmly. “And you spat in her face.”  
“In the end I did what I thought was best for me… and Johnny,” V said simply as she took a few steps towards the lounge. “And you got Hanako to forgive you.”  
“I should have listened to Hanako-sama when she warned me that you were a wild card,” the bodyguard said in a low voice close to a growl and V could sense the flame of anger burning bright underneath that illusion of composure he created so effortlessly.  
“Then why are you wasting your time lecturing me, when you could spend it sucking up to your Arasaka overlords?” she taunted him, wanting to see him slip up so badly.  
“Hanako-sama is the new head of Arasaka,” he calmly explained. “You destroying Mikoshi right underneath Yorinobu’s nose gave her enough pull with the board to overthrow her brother. She banished him from the family business, but was kind enough to let him live out his days on the family compound near Tokyo. Hanako-sama left the city yesterday, after business with Militech was finally concluded and she wished for Oda-san to stay at her side as her bodyguard.”  
The former soldier stared at his feet, seemingly gathering his thoughts.  
“Hanako-sama is a kind-hearted woman, she did not hold your transgressions against me,” he continued, his voice falling flat. “However she decided to retire me, now that I am no longer of service to Arasaka. I get to live, but I am advised to never return home.”  
“Don’t sound so disappointed,” V said softly.  
“But I am,” Takemura countered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Your refusal to respect our agreement resulted in me being deprived of my purpose and an honorable death in combat.”  
“There’s _nothing_ honorable about dying for that megalomaniac who lived way past his time, or any one related to him for that matter!” V hissed, surprised about her impulsive reaction. Maybe some parts of Johnny had stayed with her after all. “Yorinobu did the world a favor by stranglin’ his old man!”  
“Shut your mouth!”, Takemura snarled, moving in on her with two fast steps.  
“How can you be so blind?” V mocked the bodyguard. “You are nothing to them. Honestly, you should’ve realized that the second Yorinobu sent the exterminators to make us disappear. Fifty years of service, tossed aside without a second thought, just because you got in their way.”  
“I should’ve never saved you from that dump” he said, his tone dangerously low when he wrapped his hand around her throat, right underneath her jawline.

V felt the strength of the cybernetic fingers digging into the soft skin of her neck hard enough to leave bruises, but by now fear had become nothing more than a faint tingle in the back of her head.

Scraps of memories flooded her brain, the sour smell of trash on her skin and clothes, mixed with a whiff of iron as she came to her senses in a car, right next to the Arasaka soldier, who steered the vehicle one handed, the other one rendered useless by what she could only guess was a bullet wound. He gave her an airhypo and a gun, right before a group of hitmen on motorcycles attacked them, so determined and relentless that one of them ended up clawing his mantis blades into the hood of their car. She remembered being dragged out of the crashed vehicle and Takemura ripping the gun from her fingers, after she‘d finished off the remaining assassin. There was Delamain, guiding the bodyguard through a first aid sequence and then Takemura again, letting go of her legs before collapsing against the parked cab, waving Vik‘s help off with a pressed “I need to rest.”

“So I guess you‘re here to right that wrong,” she croaked, her gaze defiant as it met his.  
He furrowed his brows ever so slightly, the silver ring around his irises almost glowing in the dim light.  
“No,” he said hoarsly. “Just – how do you say here? Tying up loose ends.”  
“Pretty much the same thing, Goro,” V‘s attempt at a joke caught in her throat.  
“I do not like to dwell on unfinished business,” the bodyguard continued, lowering his gaze. “But after all we’ve been through together, I felt like I owed you an adequate farewell.”  
Takemura’s expression softened, his seething anger suddenly evaporating and V felt her stomach drop. The bodyguard dragged his thumb along her jawline until it rested on her golden lips, his stare oddly vacant, like he got lost in his thoughts while pondering how to proceed with her.

An inaudible gasp left her throat when his lips brushed against hers, gentle, almost chaste, a stark contrast to his iron grip around her jaw. Takemura pulled back, his breath heavy, brows knitted over bright eyes and the sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. This time, the Arasaka soldier had truly fallen from grace, left without a purpose or any chance at redemption in a hostile city, ripped from the comforts of what he called home. Without a greater scheme to restore the bonds that tethered him to the Arasaka family, he was finally free – a concept that seemed to scare him shitless, so he turned to the only person that reminded him of his former self: the merc he’d dragged from a landfill when he first came to Night City.  
Her heart hurt for him, but not out of pity. She desperately wished for him to finally recognize his new-found freedom as the present it was. A fresh start, a new beginning was all she ever wanted, but Arasaka’s fuckin’ relic had taken that from her, yet they handed it to him as a gracious parting gift. She couldn’t tell him how to live, but she could comfort him in his time of need.  
  
V clawed at the neck of his shirt, fingertips dragging at the soft fabric to pull him close, a familiar sensations of heat pooling in her stomach as his body was finally flush with hers, their lips meeting for a second time.  
Though she’d seen the Arasaka soldier in action before, the strength with which he backed her up against her conference table took her by surprise. Takemura dug his fingers into her head full of hair, wrapped it around his hand and pulled hard, forcing V to expose her throat, his other palm anchoring both of them to the table. She closed her eyes and gave in to the sensation of his lips trailing along her neck, the stubble of his beard scratching against the sensitive skin. A low hum escaped her mouth as he followed the curve of her collar bone, mumbling japanese nothings in a voice so low her translator didn’t even pick them up.  
“Goro,” she sighed, and she felt his weight against her shift as he brought his lips to her ear.  
“Turn around,” he grunted, letting go of her hair and she hurried to comply, her heart fluttering inside her chest.  
He gently brushed her mane aside, she could feel his hot, panting breath against the back of her neck as he found the zipper and dragged it along her spine, revealing first her shoulder blades, then the small of her back. His fingers ghosted across her warm skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.  
“This dress is not like you,” he assessed in a neutral tone, pushing the left sleeve off her shoulder. “You look different.”  
“Being the dying fixer-queen of Night City comes with a price,” V answered, throwing him a look over her shoulder. Takemura caught her gaze and realized that her smile didn’t stretch all the way to her eyes anymore.  
“It is a prison of you own making,” he rasped, turning V around to face her. “There is still time to escape it.” He lowered his lids and gently pulled the other sleeve over her shoulder, causing the silky fabric to slide down her body into a pool of white at her heeled feet.  
“Awfully glum topic, considering this is where other people’d knock out some dirty talk,” she quipped as he bent down to retrieve the dress and proceeded to gently fold it over one of the chairs.  
“Valerie,” he said, a sudden urgency in his voice and her knees weakened at the sound of her full name dropping off his lips. “This is not the time to mock me.”

She swallowed hard and stared at his serious face, framed by thin strands that had slipped out of the neat bun atop his head and she realized the truth behind his words.  
V couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this exposed, but there was something liberating about giving up her power, even if only for one night. She slowly lifted her fingers to unbutton his shirt and he let her uncover the parts of his chest and stomach where cyberware and skin interlaced. The right palm firmly placed over his heart, her left hand wandered up his carbon-enforced sternum, along the many layers that protected his throat and jaw, to the back of his head, where her fingertips rested on the shaved stubble right underneath the bun as she kissed him again. His lips roamed hers with hunger barely reined in and she felt his heart pick up the pace when she moved her almost naked body closer to his. His calloused hands stroked her back, leaving fiery trails burning across her skin and her breath caught in her lungs. V gently ground her hips against his, delighted by the throaty groan that slipped past his defences, Takemura answered by digging his enforced fingertips into the soft parts of her thighs, hoisting her up on the wooden table in seconds. V gasped and shivered as the cold of the surface seeped through the lace of her panties, and she could feel a smile tugging at Goro’s lips. She brought her hands to his hips, fingers busy prying his shirt out from under the waistband of his dress pants before she finally dragged his jacket off his shoulders. She broke away and leaned back, her eyes wandering from his lithe waist, along his well-trained but not too muscular stomach up to the blackness of the endoskeleton covering his chest and collarbones. He wasn’t as heavily modded as she’d suspected, but still, knowing that he could overpower her with ease made her core tighten. Takemura stood between her legs, his grip around them firm, his expression stoic as ever.

Oh, what she wouldn’t give to elicit the slightest emotion from this face, to shatter his composed facade once and for all and finally catch a glimpse of the real Goro behind this tough soldier exterior.  
She moved closer to the edge of the table and looked up at him, a mischievous grin curling the corners of her mouth before she slipped her hand behind his waistband and wrapped it around his length. He hissed and bucked at the sudden sensation of V’s warm grasp around him. V’s lips ghosted along his chest, her palm moving up and down his member, causing him to screw his eyes shut while cursing extensively in his mother tongue, leaving her translator clueless once again. V watched him crumble under her deliberately slow and teasing touch, soon he let go of her legs and planted his palms at her sides in a desperate attempt to steady himself. His forehead rested against her collarbone and she reveled in his quickened breath, now in sync with her grip around him. She turned her head, lips grazing his ear and softly murmured his name, which made him moan.  
“Let’s take this to the bedroom,” she whispered, tightening her fingers. He opened his eyes, their silver gaze glowing in the dark, pinning hers.  
“No,” he croaked, his body belying his words by bucking into her touch once more. “You are not the one who is in charge.” And with that he grabbed her arm, forcing her to rest her movements.

“Still the ever vigilant Arasaka bodyguard,” V tutted with a smirk before she pulled back. “You need to learn how to let go, Goro.” With that, she slipped off the table and stepped out of her heels, her naked soles tapping softly on the marble floor as she walked over to her kitchen. She grabbed her bottle of Centzon and two tumblers from the worktop and placed them on the kitchen island, filling each glass with a generous drink of her beloved tequila. V lifted one of them and inhaled the faint aroma of pepper and caramel before she took a first sip, her eyes trained on Takemura, who placed his jacket over the back of another chair before he slipped out of his dress shoes, straightened his unbuttoned shirt and followed her. V hid her grin behind another swig of tequila and moved the remaining glass across the counter.  
“You are aware that I do not drink while I am on duty,” he said softly, loose strands of hair moving with his breath.  
V gave him a crooked smile and took another sip.  
“Thing is you’re not on duty anymore,” she said, her voice rough from the burning sensation the alcohol left in her throat, the sudden heat flushing her cheeks. “But suit yourself, imma hit the shower.” She walked around the kitchen counter towards the staircase, the drink still in her right hand, feeling Goro’s eyes on her every step of the way.

The bathroom door glided open, V walked inside, downed the rest of her tequila and placed the glass right next to the sink before she turned towards the mirror. She didn’t recognize the pale face framed with strands of slicked back, long hair staring back at her with the most exhausted expression. Goro was right, she looked different – hell, she felt different. She was a dead woman walking and if she dared to pay attention for more than five seconds, she could see it too. V sighed heavily and shied away from her reflection, unclasped her golden bra, slipped out of the lace panties and stepped into the shower, hoping that the hot water would wash away the slight migraine prodding behind her eyes. She pressed her palms against the cool marble and lowered her head, the droplets relentlessly raining down on her tensed neck, her mind now with Takemura, standing half naked in her kitchen. What the hell was she even doing? She should’ve kicked him out the second she found him sitting on her daybed, his katana on the table right next to him.

The former bodyguard still stood at the counter and stared at the drink in front of him, unable to make any sense of the situation he found himself in. The image of V ascending the stairs still lingered in the back of his mind and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t shake it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about _her._ All things considered, he should’ve known he was in trouble when he saw her lying in that chair at Vik’s, all bent out of shape and a long forgotten feeling of fear had started creeping into his chest.  
He convinced himself that all he cared about was avenging Saburo’s death by overthrowing Yorinobu, a stunt he could only pull off with the last remaining witness to Yorinobu’s heinous crime – the mercenary he’d detected during his unfinished scan of the suite – alive and well, giving her testimony in front of Arasaka’s board.  
Takemura grabbed the glass and inspected the golden liquid before he finally took a swig, pleased with the refined taste of V’s liquor of choice. He stepped outside and walked towards the banister of the balcony, a warm breeze gently tugging at his shirt.  
His elaborate plan required more than just his skill and wit, he needed someone who knew the city and the people in it, someone who kept cool in dire situations and whom he could trust. V had impressed him, the way she’d handled herself during the attack of the exterminators displayed a tenacity he’d only seen in the special forces at Arasaka, so it had to be her.  
She’d grown on him quicker than he’d anticipated, V sassed him every chance she got, gave him shit about his attitude towards a city she barely even liked herself – soon their frequent banter and the mission tying them together became his new anchor, something he found himself lookin forward to.  
He knew he was royally fucked when they spend hours atop an unfinished construction site surveilling the Arasaka warehouse across the street and V somehow coaxed him into getting takeout for the both of them, sharing stories about his childhood, early years at Arasaka and his thoughts of becoming a nomad. Takemura had never told anyone about his deepest desires, yet he felt like his secret was safe with V. In hindsight that damned Bakeneko appeared like an intended warning he brushed off and now he was paying the price for it.  
The soldier let his gaze wander across the illuminated skyline crowded by AVs and took a deep breath, noting that the city looked different, way more civilized and peaceful from all the way up here, but he still couldn’t wait to fuckin’ finally leave it behind after he finished this last task, one way or the other. It was time to finally make a decision, so he emptied his drink and went inside.

V found herself on the floor of the shower, a violent coughing fit ripping through her body, blood spilling from her mouth and nose onto the marble and her hands.  
“Fuckin’ hell,” she groaned, slowly sitting up before she rested her back against the wall and watched the blood dilute into rosé swirls at her feet. Her time was running out and she knew it. She spat the remaining blood in her mouth down the drain and stood up, her fingers clawing at the shower fittings for the tiniest bit of support. The mercenary rested her forehead against the marble and took a few deep breaths to clear her head and fight the dizziness. She knew the symptoms by heart because they’d announced Johnny’s arrival since day one, but by now, without the relic talking to her, they just left her strung out, reeling and empty. V had barely fought her way back to consciousness, when she heard the flat hiss of the bathroom door behind her back. Startled, she spun around, her eyes growing wide.  
“Goro, what the hell are you doing?” V asked, her voice catching in her throat as she stared at the bodyguard.  
“I am following your advice,” he said, his tone rough. “I am letting go.”

V swallowed hard, unable to take her gaze off his naked form. She noticed that he’d let his hair down, greyed-in strands framed his face, made him look more vulnerable than ever before as he walked towards her. Her heart hammered inside her chest when he cupped her face in his palms and lifted her chin so he could kiss her gently. V held on to his shoulders, feeling the sharp ridges of his endoskeleton underneath her fingertips, the urgency in even his smallest movements. He wrapped his right hand around the back of her neck, his left now free to roam her body, fingers following the curve of her waist, all the way down to her hips, leaving her electrified.  
Takemura broke away, glancing at her with an expression she couldn’t read.  
“It has been a long time since I have been…” he began, but V shushed him.  
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “I will let you know what I like.” She brushed a wet strand of hair behind his ear and dragged her fingers along his jaw, making the bodyguard shiver underneath her touch. He kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose, her jaw and throat, his lips traveling further down her body, his fingers stroking her damp skin. The familiar sensation of heat returned to her lower body, making her legs tremble with anticipation as Takemura planted hungry kisses along her stomach, inevitably moving towards his final destination. V gasped in surprise when his tongue grazed her clit, making her hips jerk involuntarily. Goro mumbled something unintelligible in return and placed his hand on her lower belly, his cybernetic fingers keeping her still as he increased his efforts.  
“Holy fuck,” V moaned, slumping against the marble wall behind her. “Don’t stop.” Her heartbeat quickened, the water raining down on them muting her hitched breaths as his thumb gently stroked her entrance.  
“God, Goro,” she cried out the second she felt his digit inside of her. The mercenary screwed her eyes shut and shoved her fingers into his hair, her nails digging into his skull as she tightened her grip, the pulling sensation settling low in her stomach a first indication of her impending orgasm. Her legs started shaking and Takemura reinforced his grip to keep her still, pressing her ass hard against the cold wall.  
“If you keep going like this, the whole thing will be over in less than a minute,” V croaked and she swore she could feel a sly smile cross his lips before he suddenly pulled away.  
“I didn’t tell you to stop,” she complained, her breathing all over the place while she watched him straighten up, a somewhat mischievous grin on his face.  
“We are not finished yet,” he retorted, his face flushed. “But it is time to take this to the bedroom.”  
And just like that, he wrapped one arm around the small of her back, placed the other one underneath her butt, hoisting her up like she was weightless.

Careful not to slip on the wooden floor, Takemura carried V towards her bed and lowered her on the silken sheets. She looked otherworldly in the soft light of the room, like she was glowing from deep within. His eyes met her wild gaze over flushed cheeks and it left him breathless to see her looking this alive, knowing that she was living on borrowed time, at least when he dared to believe the results of his earlier scan. He averted his gaze and swallowed hard, causing V to sit up.  
“Stay with me, Goro,” she husked, holding out her hand for him to grab. The look on her face killed him, it felt like he was staring directly into the sun, right when it burned out to finally fade away. He wrapped his fingers around hers and knelt down on the mattress, his heart heavy with sorrow.  
“It’s okay,” she whispered, her gaze holding his as her fingers wandered along the stubble on his jaw, over to his mouth. “Don’t worry about me.” Her lips ghosted across his before she moved on to the warm skin on his chest. He succumbed to the pressure of her palms and rested his back against the headboard, patiently awaiting her next move. V placed her knees beside his hips, towering over him like the goddess she was. With the black mascara smudges around her bright eyes and wet strands of hair clinging to her face and shoulders, she kinda reminded him of the Bakeneko they’d seen during their stake out. He could barely take sensation of her fingertips grazing the skin of his stomach and hips, lust surging inside him like a wildfire. A throaty moan spilled from his lips when she finally wrapped her dainty fingers around his length again and he realized that he was hers entirely, had been since he’d first laid eyes on her.

V slowly slid his tip along her wet folds, eyes wide with wonder, watching him fall apart under her certain touch before she finally took him in. Goro groaned, his grip on her waist tightening as she began to move, the sensation of him stretching her just right inching her closer towards the edge. Her palm firmly placed on the cyberware protecting his sternum, she held him back until she found the leverage she desired. The string of hoarse moans falling from his lips made her heart flutter and she reveled in seeing him this spend and soft, at her mercy.  
It had taken her way too long to figure out that she wanted him, despite Johnny’s quips and comments which she deliberately ignored, making her feel wistful about wasting all that time while it ran through her fingers like sand.  
She snaked her hand from his chest to the back of his neck, pulling him closer until their bodies were flush. His hands on her waist guided her into a slightly slower rhythm that served the both of them and she felt Goro’s hitched breathing against her collarbone. They moved without haste, making up for lost time in this stolen moment that belonged to just them. Her hips rolled against his like waves against the shore, a delicate dance that kept both of them teetering on the edge. She tried to remember the last time she'd felt this close to someone, but came up blank. Takemura's fingers roaming her skin got more demanding, his kisses heated and urgent, leaving her lips tender and swollen where his stubble had scratched her.  
“Valerie,” he rasped, his voice dripping with desire and she felt him tense inside of her. “I am not going to last any longer.” With this his grip around her neck turned vice-like, his other hand pulling her hips into his in a frantic hurry, now that both of them were chasing their release.  
Another strangled groan slipping past Goro’s lips made her core tighten and she felt her orgasm building, electric currents dancing along her skin, setting her insides on fire.  
She pulled away and looked at him, her gaze wandering from the fine hair clinging to his sweaty temples, to his dark brows furrowed over closed lids, cyberware markings on his nose and cheeks, his lips slightly parted, unable to hold back the string of rough moans filling the silence of the room.

“Goro-chan,” she whispered, her voice breathy. “Look at me.” He opened his eyes, the silver ring burning bright. The tenderness in his gaze took her by surprise and she wasn’t sure if anyone had ever looked at her the way Takemura did right now.  
“You are a sight to behold,” he murmured in Japanese and just like that, she went over the edge, her muscles rhythmically clenching around Takemura’s lenght, dragging him with her.  
He spilled his load between low groans, his lips pressed against her collarbone as he held her close to his body.  
“You’re something else entirely,” she panted, her cheek resting on his hair as she rode out the aftershocks of her intense orgasm.

V shifted her weight underneath her blanket and turned over to look at Takemura, who laid next to her, hips covered by an edge of the silken sheet she’d wrapped herself in. The sun was already coming up behind the skyline, filling the bedroom with golden light that made the silver cyberware stand out against the warm tone of his skin.  
“What’s the story behind this one?” V asked, gently following the curve of the scar right next to his ear with her fingertip.  
“Oda,” Takemura grunted with a grin, as if the memory amused him.  
“As I have told you before I have trained him to become Hanako-samas bodyguard,” he continued, staring at the ceiling. “It was the first combat training after he had received his Mantis Blades. I was younger then, faster, so convinced that I was the superior soldier that I challenged him to fight me with added mods. He cut my face open, the EMP blade short-circuiting the cyberware embedded in my skin, leaving me with a scar to remind me that sometimes a brief moment of inattention can make all the difference.”  
“Ouch,” V joked, barely able to keep her eyes open. “But you still asked me to spare him.”  
“I am a man of honor, so is he,” Goro replied, turning his head to face her. “I am pleased he taught me that lesson instead of someone who intended to put me in a grave.”  
“Do you ever wonder what will happen to Arasaka,” V inquired. “Now that Hanako took over?”  
“I am trying to refrain from such thoughts,” he murmured. “But I have served this corporation for five decades, it is all I have known for a long time.”  
“Yeah well, you can get the man out of the corpo, but you won’t get the corpo out of the man.” V taunted him, a smile ghosting across her lips.  
“But I promise you, I will try to let it go.”

V woke up to a busy day outside her penthouse window, the delicate ache in her body a welcome reminder of the past night. She rolled around only to find the other side of the bed deserted and for a split second she imagined that Goro was in the shower, waiting for her, but in her heart she knew that he’d left while she was sleeping. V stepped out of her bed, the sheet slipping off her body and walked over to the banister. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth when she realized he’d tidied away his glass and the tequila, but then something else caught her eye: he’d left his katana behind.

She descended the staircase and walked over to round table, where his weapon was lying in its sheath with an Arasaka-branded shard next to it. V grabbed it and walked over to the kitchen to pour herself a drink before she finally slotted it.  
It was a written message in Japanese, quickly translated by her optics.

 _“Valerie,”_ she read. _“My deepest apologies for leaving like a thief in the night, but as you have to follow your path, I will have to honor mine. However I am grateful that ours were fated to cross when they did, regardless of the circumstances.  
My weapon has outlived it’s purpose, where I am going I will no longer need it. I ask you to hold on to it for me, let it serve as a reminder that the prisons we find ourselves in are often ones of our own creation. There is still a chance to save yourself._  
_I hoped to have more time with you, maybe my wish will be granted in another life._  
_You will forever be my sun of Night City._ ”

She took another sip of her drink, unsure if the tears pricking behind her lids were a result of the alcohol burning in her throat or the words Goro had found for her. She placed the empty glass on the table and unsheathed the sword, gently turning it in her hands. It was of the highest quality, blade and hilt so black they seemed to swallow each and every light reflex grazing the metal. Three kanji symbols etched into the blade caught her eye, looking closely her scanner translated them into a name only Goro would give a weapon: Bakeneko.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, looks like I really had to get that one out of my system!


End file.
